This new invention presents a distinct cultivar of a Vinca minor and will be referred to hereafter by the cultivar name `Illumination`. Vinca minor is an evergreen, suffrutiscent creeping vine that is used commercially as a ground cover.
The new cultivar was discovered in the inventor's garden in Newport, Wash. in 1995. `Illumination` was isolated from a branch sport arising in a patch of common, green-leafed Vinca minor (unpatented). It is distinguished by it's variegated foliage consisting of yellow to cream colored centers surrounded by dark green margins. The mature stems are also unique in that they are greyed purple in color.
No other known cultivar, known to the inventor, has a coloration that is similar to this new cultivar `Illumination`. There are two cultivars of periwinkle that are available in the trade with gold variegation; `Golden` and `Blue and Gold`, both of which have thin gold margins and green centers. Another cultivar, `Valley Glow`, has leaves that emerge a gold color, but then the leaves turn green upon maturation.
The original asexual propagation of `Illumination` was done by the inventor in Newport, Wash. using compound layering of the branch sport in the spring of 1995. The new cultivar has subsequently been propagated by stem cuttings and has remained stable and true to type in successive generations since it's discovery.